Winfield’s drainage ditches caught in debate

Friday

SOUTH BELOIT — The city engineer would approve the controversial drainage system and sixth plat for the Winfield subdivision. But City Council members still are unsure if they would.

SOUTH BELOIT — The city engineer would approve the controversial drainage system and sixth plat for the Winfield subdivision. But City Council members still are unsure if they would.

“On the basis of my personal observation and the information provided by R.H. Batterman, I believe the subdivision may be accepted by the city of South Beloit,” Tim Bronn, vice president of McMahon Associates Inc., the city engineering firm, stated in a letter to the council.

Homeowners concerned
Residents and several commissioners have concerns over the size of the ditches, which take up backyards, and the addition of several costly pumps and dry wells.

The original drainage system design for the subdivision, which was created in 2003, didn’t work and properties were immersed in standing water for weeks after rainstorms.

The subdivision was created by Sunil Puri, president of First Rockford Group, and affiliate Chris Cannell, who developed plats one through five under Roscoe Development Co. LLC. The group sold its remaining plat to Petry Trust in April 2007.

In 2008, the developers dug the ditches deeper and added three submersible pumps to pump a percentage of the standing water to Rockton without the consent of the City Council. Since adding the pumps, the water has been out of the drainage system within 48 hours.

Plat 6 in debate
The city has never accepted plat 6 or the drainage system because of the issues and claims from residents that the developers took dirt by the truckload from their yards to make it work.

Cannell, on behalf of First Rockford Group, has offered the city $2,500 to be used for repairs and replacements, if the city in turn accepts the drainage and the final plat.

“I would just like to come to a solution one way or another,” Mayor Randy Kirichkow said. “Getting together every two weeks to argue doesn’t do anyone any good.”

“How can we say it’s right?” Commissioner Pam Clifton asked. “Passing this doesn’t look at the problems here. It does not address that these people don’t have a backyard. We did not tell the developer to put in pumps.”

If the city does not accept the sixth plat, the roads in the plat would not become public and would remain the responsibility of the developer, City Attorney Jeff Livingston said.

“I assume (First Rockford Group) would file an action against the city and we would have this argument in front of a judge,” Livingston said. “(Bronn’s letter) is the first thing I would hold up if I were their attorney. Certainly having our own engineer say it’s fine is not a good exhibit for us.”

Possible conflict of interest
R.H. Batterman & Co. Inc. claimed that drainage improvements were constructed “to the staked line and grade of the improvement plans,” in a letter addressed to the City Council in April.

Batterman acted as both consulting engineer to the developers of the subdivision and as city engineer in charge of reviewing the developers’ plans back in 2002.

Clifton said he believes the dual responsibilities for the engineering firm created an inherent conflict of interest.

“I cannot believe any council that has seen this design would have passed that as a subdivision,” Clifton said. “The council did not say that it was OK to go back and take everybody’s dirt.”

Bronn said that he “doesn’t have any information to contradict” Batterman’s claim that the project was constructed to plan.

“These sinkholes, dry wells, pumps, the developer did that on his own — he admitted there was a problem by doing that,” Paul Weber, a resident of Winfield subdivision, told the City Council on Wednesday night. “The developers did not give the city what was approved. I watched them dig these trenches three times. I had to reline my cable and phone lines three times. If you accept this, they can just walk away.”

“The drainage system does work, but I don’t know if the developer has done a good job,” Commissioner Bob Redieske said. “I’m OK with accepting the drainage system, but I do not agree that the backyards are OK. Like I’ve said before, the residents should get back their dirt.”

The City Council will have a meeting to discuss accepting the subdivision at 6 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 519 Blackhawk Blvd.

Staff writer Greg Stanley can be reached at gstanley@rrstar.com or 815-987-1369.

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